U.N. panel probing N.K. acquisition of vessel previously registered in S. Korea

All News 15:02 April 05, 2022

By Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- A U.N. panel of experts is investigating North Korea's suspected acquisition last year of a vessel previously registered as a South Korean-flagged ship, its annual report showed Tuesday.

The panel for the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on the North has been tracing the transfer of the Sierra Leone-flagged Ocean Sky by a Hong Kong-incorporated firm, Asia Ocean Shipping, to the North Korean entity, Ryongsung Trading Corp., between May 24 and May 30 last year, according to the report.

Adopted in November 2016 following the North's nuclear test months earlier, UNSC Resolution 2321 bans the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the North of new vessels. The ban was extended to used vessels under Resolution 2397 the following year.

The vessel in question departed from South Korea's southeastern city of Busan on May 11 last year. Before that, it was sailing as a South Korean-flagged vessel under the name of the Daeho Sunrise, according to the report.

During its investigation, the panel found that the vessel had been under the ownership and management of its previous owner, Daeho Shipping Co., from Feb. 28, 2011, through May 17, 2021.

A mainland China and Hong Kong broker sought out a Seoul-based broker in March last year to purchase the vessel. The vessel was finally handed over to the unnamed buyer on May 4 that year, the report said.

The vessel was observed on satellite imagery at a Chinese shipyard on Oct. 1. It last transmitted signals for a satellite-based vessel identification system on Nov. 13 in waters outside the shipyard, the report said.